Ijeoma Ikeagwu, estranged wife of Nollywood actor, Kalu has told an Ikeja High Court that her husband’s habit of smoking cannabis made her fearful of their children’s safety.
This was her response at the last proceedings, before Justice Christopher Balogun.
She also claimed that her husband refused to take care of her and the children while being led in evidence by her lawyer, Mrs S.I. Amedu.
Recall that CASEFILE reported that the actor is seeking a dissolution of his six-year-old marriage to Ijeoma and is seeking custody of their children, a son and a stepdaughter, in a suit marked ID/8939HD/2021.
According to Starconnectmedia report, Ijeoma recounted how Ikeagwu would take the children out on a stroll in the estate in Ogba where they lived and would take them to buy and smoke cannabis, exposing the children to the suppliers and danger.
She said it was when his alleged habit was discovered that she insisted she would be going with them on the strolls.
According to her, “My husband felt uncomfortable with this and eventually stopped the strolls.”
Ijeoma also narrated how Ikeagwu was once arrested by operatives of SARS and taken to Area F in Ikeja and when the husband was released, they had to hurriedly leave the place where they lived for another accommodation.
She said when she asked to know why he was arrested, her husband merely told her it was linked to a stolen phone whose owner died in Abuja.
Countering the plaintiff’s testimony at the last proceeding, Ijeoma told the court why she left her matrimonial home when Amedu asked her.
She explained that prior to her leaving their matrimonial home, Kalu had called her dad and told him he was no longer interested in the marriage and that he told her he wanted a divorce.
She said her husband would constantly harass her to leave his house, sometimes in the presence of their 10-year-old daughter.
Adding that she stayed back in Lagos for two weeks immediately after she left her husband’s house before going to Enugu because her daughter was about to take her school leaving certificate examination and also the daughter’s school’s graduation ceremony was around that period.
Justice Balogun asked Ijeoma why she did not let her husband know that she was still in Lagos for that two-week period, but she responded that their relationship and communication had not been cordial and that Kalu had been sending her threatening messages and so she could not have revealed her location to him.
Justice Balogun adjourned the case to July 8 for the continuation of the hearing.